x Mangave plant named ‘Maverick’

ABSTRACT

A new and unique X Mangave plant named ‘Maverick’ characterized by compact mounded habit of numerous lanceolate leaves with dense, overlapping, dark, greyed-purple spotting in strong ultraviolet light exposure. The new plant has numerous chartreuse flowers on dense, tall, stiff, highly branched scapes. The foliage has small, semi-flexible, marginal teeth and flexible to sharp apical mucro. The new plant is suitable as a potted houseplant plant, as a container plant for the patio or garden and for the garden or planted in the landscape, and the flowers are loaded with nectar for attracting hummingbirds.

Botanical classification: x Mangave times x Mangave hybrid.

Variety denomination: ‘Maverick’.

STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(b)(6)

The first non-enabling public disclosure of x Mangave ‘Maverick’ was on Mar. 1, 2021 with a brief description and photo on a website operated by Walters Gardens, Inc. This was followed by a brief description and photograph in the “Walters Gardens 2021-2022 Catalog” which was first distributed on May 21, 2021. Information for this website and catalog was obtained from the inventor. The first disclosure of the claimed plant, in the form of a sale, is planned to be made by Walters Gardens, Inc. on Feb. 28, 2022 to Legacy Gardens, LLC. All plants and information on ‘Maverick’ have been provided by the inventor. No plants of x Mangave ‘Maverick’ have been sold, in this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made, more than one year prior the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the new and distinct x Mangave plant, x Mangave ‘Maverick’ hybridized on Oct. 17, 2014 by the inventor at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA as a cross between the proprietary unreleased hybrid known only by the breeder code x Mangave 11-2-4 (not patented) as the female or seed parent and x Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ (not patented) as the male or pollen parent. Through trials at the same nursery the plant was referred to by the code 15-34-23. The new plant has been successfully asexually propagated initially by division of offsets in 2018 followed by shoot tip tissue culture at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. These asexual propagation systems have been found to produce stable and identical plants that maintain all the unique characteristics of the original plant in successive generations.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

x Mangave ‘Maverick’ differs from its parents as well as all other Manfreda, Agave and x Mangave known to the applicant. The most similar known x Mangave cultivars known to the inventor are: ‘Blazing Saddles’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,274, ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 33,166, ‘Inkblot’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,431, ‘Moonglow’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,195 and ‘Thunderbird’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,248.

‘Blazing Saddles’ has a smaller habit with narrower leaves that are more densely spotted with reddish coloration. ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ has broader leaves that are more upright in habit, or gray-green color with burgundy spotting and larger teeth. ‘Inkblot’ has a similar habit but the foliage is wider, more glaucous with smoky-purple color and purple-lavender spots with less total coverage. ‘Moonglow’ has a more silvery blue-green leaf surface with dark purple spotting. ‘Thunderbird’ is smaller and more upright in habit with leaves that are shorter and more completely covered with dark red spots.

The female parent, 11-2-4, has much wider and longer leaves with smaller teeth, the dark leaf spots are larger and more separated, and there are fewer leaves per mature plant. The male plant has shorter leaves and is a smaller more compact plant, the apical spines marginal teeth are larger and firmer and the margin is distinctly darker brown.

The new plant, ‘Maverick’, is unique from all Agave, X Mangave and Manfreda known to the inventor by the following combined traits:

-   -   1. Compact mounded habit with numerous leaves at flowering;     -   2. Leaves lanceolate and dense, overlapping, dark, greyed-purple         spotting in high light exposure;     -   3. Foliage with small, sharp, firm, marginal teeth and         semi-flexible sharp apical mucro;     -   4. Moderate to rapid growth rate;     -   5. Numerous chartreuse flowers on dense, stiff, tall, highly         branched scapes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The photograph of the new plant demonstrates the overall appearance of the new plant including the unique traits grown with supplemental water and fertilizer as needed. The colors are as accurate as reasonably possible with color reproductions. Ambient light spectrum, temperature, source and direction may cause the appearance of minor variation in color.

FIG. 1 shows a three-year-old plant from above as grown the last season in a full-sun trial garden.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a two-year-old plant in a container with the last season in a full-sun trial garden.

FIG. 3 shows the distal flowers and buds on a three-year-old plant in the greenhouse.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following descriptions and color references are based on the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common dictionary terms are used. The new plant, X Mangave ‘Maverick’, has not been observed under all possible environments. The phenotype may vary slightly with different environmental conditions, such as temperature, light, fertility, moisture and maturity levels, but without any change in the genotype. The following observations and size descriptions are of three and four-year old plants in a commercial wholesale greenhouse and in a full-sun trial garden in Zeeland, Mich. with supplemental water and fertilizer as needed.

-   Botanical classification: x Mangave hybrid (Manfreda x Agave); -   Parentage: The female or seed parent is the proprietary hybrid     11-4-2 and the male or pollen parent is ‘Bloodspot’; -   Propagation: Division and sterile plant tissue culture; -   Time to initiate roots from tissue culture: About 21 days; -   Growth rate: Moderate to rapid; -   Crop time: About 12 to 16 weeks to finish during lengthening spring     days from an established 25 mm tissue culture plug to a 65 mm     diameter container; -   Rooting habit: Fleshy, lightly branching, with roots up to 30 cm     long; -   Root color: Nearest RHS 158C depending on soil type; -   Plant shape and habit: Succulent herbaceous perennial with basal     rosettes of up to about 104 fleshy leaves radially emerging and     arching from central rhizome, producing a symmetrical, low, rounded     mound; -   Plant size: Foliage height about 38.0 cm tall from soil line to the     top of the foliage and 74.0 cm wide near soil level, scape to about     170 cm tall and flowering in upper about 96 cm tall and 16.0 cm wide     at the widest flowers; -   Foliage description: Lanceolate; simple; sarcous; slightly fibrous;     glabrous, smooth and slightly glaucous adaxial and abaxial; becoming     slightly lustrous adaxial and abaxial; margins finely dentate with     firm teeth; apex acute with sharp semi-flexible mucro; base     truncate, sessile, clasping; not sinuate; slightly concavo-convex     and slightly arching with maturity; -   Leaf size: To about 41.0 cm long, about 3.5 cm wide about one-third     away from base, 3.8 cm wide at base, 1.0 cm thick and 1.0 cm deep;     average about 37.0 cm long, 3.3 cm wide about one-third away from     base and 0.8 cm thick; typically bi-laterally symmetrical; spots of     variable sizes from about 1.0 mm diameter to about 18.0 mm long and     12.0 mm across, frequently overlapping; teeth to about 1.0 mm long     and 1.0 mm across at base; -   Foliage fragrance: None observed; -   Cauline bracts: About 27 per scape below flowers and one at each     branch; lanceolate; simple; sarcous, glabrous; margins finely     dentate with firm teeth to about 0.5 mm long; apex narrowly acute     with semi-flexible mucro to about 4.5 mm long; base truncate,     sessile, clasping; typically adpressed in proximal two-thirds; to     about 21.0 cm long and about 2.8 cm wide near center, decreasing     distally; -   Leaf blade and bract color:     -   -   Adaxial (young).—Between RHS 137B and RHS 189B with spots             nearest RHS 137A with faint blush of nearest RHS N187B.         -   Abaxial (young).—Between RHS 189A and RHS 189B with spots             nearest RHS 137B.         -   Adaxial (mature).—Low ultraviolet light blend nearest RHS             N138B and N138C, with spots of nearest RHS NN137A; high             ultraviolet light nearest RHS N138A with faint blush of             nearest RHS 182B, and spots of nearest RHS N187A.         -   Abaxial (mature).—Low ultraviolet light between RHS 138B and             RHS 191B at the longitudinal center, the edges nearest RHS             N138C, nearest RHS 146C near proximal center and with             variable spots of nearest RHS 146B, RHS 137A and RHS NN137C;             high ultraviolet light between RHS 146D and RHS 147A             proximally, distally between RHS 138B and RHS 194B with             spots variable of nearest RHS 146C and RHS 187A.         -   Marginal teeth.—Mature adaxial and abaxial distally between             RHS 175A and RHS 183A; adaxial and abaxial proximal portion             and on younger foliage nearest RHS NN155A becoming nearest             RHS 172C distally as developing. -   Mucro: Semi-flexible; sharp; straight, about 5.0 mm long and 0.5 mm     across; -   Mucro color: On young leaves nearest RHS 164D maturing to between     RHS 177B and RHS 165A; -   Petiole: Sessile; -   Veins: Parallel; not distinct; -   Peduncle: Terete; glaucous; glabrous; stiff; strong; upwardly;     heavily branched with about 33 branches; about 170.0 cm long and to     1.7 cm diameter at base and 1.3 cm diameter below first branches; -   Branches: Cylindrical distally, applanate proximally; slightly     glaucous; glabrous; to about 6.0 cm long and about 0.3 cm thick and     0.8 cm across at base; branch aspect upwardly and outwardly, about     60 degrees above horizontal; -   Peduncle color: Nearest RHS 147A with moderate mottling of nearest     RHS 187A; -   Pedicel: To about 7.0 mm long and 3.0 mm diameter; terete; glaucous;     glabrous; stiff; strong; -   Pedicel color: Between RHS 138A and RHS 138B; -   Buds one day prior to opening: Elongated globose; about 40 mm long     and about 8 mm across at bulb, ovary portion about 11.0 mm long and     about 5.0 mm diameter, bulb about 2.6 cm long; rounded apex; ovary     portion smooth and lustrous; -   Bud color: Tepal portion nearest RHS 146D and heavily maculate to     nearly solid with between RHS 178A and RHS 183A, ovary portion     between RHS 147B and RHS 138A; -   Flower description: Perfect; incomplete; actinomorphic; about 5.5 cm     long to exserted anthers and pistil and opening to about 3.4 cm     across at outside of tepals before beginning to recurve; corolla to     about 2.2 cm long and 2.8 cm wide when fully recurved; lasting about     3 to 4 days per flower; flowering period about three to four weeks     once plant is mature, approximately three-years-old; producing     abundant nectar; -   Inflorescence: Approximately 150 flowers per scape; aspect upright;     flowering portion about 96.0 cm tall and about 18.0 cm across; -   Flower fragrance: None detected; -   Tepals: Six in two sets of three; lanceolate; glabrous and lustrous     adaxial and abaxial; acute apex, about 32.0 mm long, fused in basal     14.0 mm, free in distal 18.0 mm and about 6.0 mm wide just above     fusion; recurved 270° to 360°; -   Tepal color: Outer tepal set adaxial basal one-third nearest RHS     145C, distal portion nearest RHS 151A when first opening and nearest     RHS 145C with maturity, abaxial nearest RHS 146D with strong blush     of between RHS 178A and RHS 183A; inner tepal set adaxial basal     portion nearest RHS 145C when first opening and through maturity,     distal portion nearest RHS 151A along margin, centers between RHS     146D and RHS 145A, when mature margin nearest RHS 145C and center     between RHS 146D and 145A, abaxial margin between RHS 151A and RHS     151B, center portion nearest RHS 146D with strong blush to nearly     solid between RHS 178A and RHS 183A; -   Androecium: Six;     -   -   Filaments.—Six; cylindrical distally; straight; slightly             applanate base; stiff and straight; about 36.0 mm long and             1.5 mm across and 1.0 mm thick at base; color nearest RHS             158B heavily maculate with nearest RHS 183A.         -   Anther.—Dorsifixed; longitudinal; straight, oblong; about             15.0 mm long and 2.0 mm across and 1.5 mm thick before             opening; color nearest RHS 153A and heavily maculate with             nearest RHS 183A.         -   Pollen.—Abundant; color nearest RHS 14B. -   Gynoecium: Single; 55.0 mm long;     -   -   Style.—40.0 mm long and 2.5 mm diameter at base; color             between RHS 162D and RHS 158B heavily maculate with nearest             RHS 183A.         -   Stigma.—Turbinate, apex tri-lobed; distally puberulent;             about 1.5 mm tall and 2.0 mm across top; color nearest RHS             158B.         -   Ovary.—Inferior; oblong; about 13.0 mm long and 6.0 mm             across; surface smooth; color between RHS 138A and RHS 146B. -   Fruit: Not yet observed; -   Seed: Not yet observed; -   Disease resistance: x Mangave ‘Maverick’ has not been observed to be     resistant to diseases common to other x Mangave beyond that which is     normal for Agave or Manfreda. The plant is xeromorphic and survives     well with minimal water once established. Hardiness at least from     USDA zone 9 to 11. Full extent of winter hardiness has not been     tested. 

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of ornamental X Mangave plant named ‘Maverick’ as herein described and illustrated. 